Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle front part structure of a vehicle such as an automobile, and more particularly to a structure of a lower portion of a vehicle body positioned behind a front tire in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body in a vehicle.
Description of the Related Art
As the vehicle front part structure of an automobile, there has been known the structure which includes: lockers arranged substantially horizontally with the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body set as the longitudinal direction of the lockers; and front pillars (A pillars) extending toward an upper side of the vehicle body from end portions of the locker on a front side in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body on both outer sides of a lower portion of the vehicle body of the vehicle in the vehicle width direction. In such a structure, the front pillar extends in the vertical direction between a front glass and an opening portion of a front door, and the locker extends toward a rear side of the vehicle body from a lower end portion of the front pillar. Both the locker and the front pillar are formed of a hollow frame portion having a closed cross-sectional shape in transverse cross section. The locker and the front pillar are integrally formed with each other and constitute portions of the frame structure of the vehicle body.
In such vehicle front part structure, the lockers and the front pillars are formed in approximately left and right symmetry in the vehicle, and a dash panel is disposed between the left and right lockers and front pillars. The dash panel is a plate-like member having a relatively small thickness (thin plate portion) by which an engine room in which an engine and the like provided in an automobile are housed and a cabin (vehicle indoor space) where a driver's seat and the like are disposed are separated from each other. Front tires are arranged in front of left and right lockers in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body.
The vehicle front part structure has, from a viewpoint of ensuring safety of an occupant of an automobile, the constitution which can disperse or absorb an impact generated by collision and can increase the strength of members in preparation for the collision involving a front portion of a vehicle. As to the kinds of collisions involving a front portion of an automobile, various kinds of collisions such as a full-lap collision where the whole front surface of a vehicle body in a width direction collides with something, an offset (overlap) collision where a portion such as an approximately half of the front surface of the vehicle body in a width direction collides with something, and an oblique (skew) collision are named. For ensuring safety, collision tests are performed with respect to respective kinds of collisions. Particularly, recently, in an offset collision, the evaluation on a fine lap collision which is a collision where an overlapping portion is relatively small (¼ of a vehicle width in tests) has become important as an index of safety. When an automobile is involved in a fine overlap collision, for example, due to the relationship where the movement of front tires on a side where the collision occurs is restricted by the connecting structure with respect to a vehicle body side or the like, the front tire moves backward while being steered (going along an inner track) toward the inside of the vehicle by following a trajectory which draws an arc passing in front of a locker.
As a technique provided for coping with the collision involving a front portion of a vehicle, there has been proposed the vehicle front part structure where a plate is provided on a front portion of a locker for preventing the movement and the deformation of the front tire which moves backward at the time of collision in the front portion of the locker (see JP-A-2001-287670 (patent literature 1), for example). Patent literature 1 discloses the constitution where, for suppressing the deformation of a front tire toward an area below a locker at the time of an offset collision, a plate mounted on a front portion of the locker is provided at a position in front of a connecting portion between the locker and the front pillar and behind the front tire.